


Home of a Took

by somajesticdonki



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Past Lives, Past Lives, Queerplatonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24495943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somajesticdonki/pseuds/somajesticdonki
Summary: Pippin Took moves to a dorm at Pondshire College, where his roommate is Merry Brandybuck. The day they meet Pippin starts having weird dreams...
Relationships: Merry Brandybuck & Pippin Took
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Home of a Took

**Author's Note:**

> Implied child abuse for this chapter!

What do you think of when you think of the word "home"?  
Is it an open field of flowers, dancing all day long?  
A forest full of secrets, between the roots hidden?  
Or perhaps a city, by day and night filled with song?  
Or a family where being yourself is not forbidden?

The word "home" comes by many definitions, you see, and it is unique to each and every person you may speak with. In fact, many are still searching for their one and true "home".

Such is the story of a young man named Pippin Took. A happy fella was he, his classmates would say, though a bit queer in his ways. Perhaps a bit of a fool, but kind-hearted he was.

And perhaps that was the person he truly believed himself to be, but maybe, just maybe, the world's perception of him had been skewed.

His parents saw him as naught but a troublemaker these days, as he quite often forgot his responsibilities, going off to the park to sing with the birds. An odd fella, for sure, to be so obsessed with the music of nature as to forget he had a life as a human. To long for something just out of his reach, something deep inside his heart which he did not know the definition of.

And so most of his days looked as such; his parents were most disappointed with him, and his peers were not quite his friends.

But on this day his life would change. It was the 23rd of August, and a new school year was on the rise. After spending his whole life saving every penny they could find, his parents were sending him away to a college to study engineering. It for sure was not a job Pippin wanted, but realizing he didn't have much of a say in the matter, he obliged.

So let us begin this story with the moment he woke up that day to the sound of his mother's calls.

"PEREGRIN TOOK, FOR THE LAST TIME, GET OUT OF BED!"

But Pippin, who had now woken for the third time (as the other two times he had been quickly pulled back into the cozyness of sleep), was reluctant. Even though his bed wasn't the most comfortable bed in the universe and his blankets were rough in texture (which he was NOT fond of), it was still his bed, and it was a bed he did not want to leave. It begged him to go back to sleep, and he had to fight for his life to make sure he was up (or at least out of bed, since when he tried to get up he had instead rolled off onto the floor, the floor groaning, as if it were just as discontent with Pippin getting up as he was) before his mother entered the room.

And soon she did.

"Get off the floor, Peregrin, we don't have much time!" the stern sound of her voice made him flinch. Bad things happened when she yelled. "Make sure you're all packed!"

And with that she left him to get himself together.  
Pippin, who, by the way, was not fond of being called by the name his parents gave him, got dressed in his most comfortable clothes (dark green sweatpants and a black t-shirt with the words "The Elves" written in a flowery font on it), and came downstairs for breakfast.

To his disappointment, breakfast was long over.

"You slept too long, we have to go now," his mother told him. "Grab your bags and lock the door, your father's already waiting in the car."

Pippin headed back upstairs, grabbed his backpack and suitcase and stopped at the door. He took a long look back at his room. It's been his room for all 18 years of his life, and it almost felt like it was his life. Leaving it behind was leaving the only home he knew.

He almost turned to leave when he remembered! Behind his desk, underneath the loose floorboard, there was a treasure - a gift from a distant relative who he fondly called Unklie Bilbo when he was little. Before his passing, Unklie Bilbo had given him a rose quartz pendulum, telling him of the magic it possessed. He said it was forged by elves, giving it a magic so powerful that he could not even explain it. Pippin never quite believed in it, but it was an item of comfort for him.

He took a good look in the pendulum. Its color had never faded, even though its many cracks showed its age. Probably. Pippin wasn't exactly sure how crystals work. Either way, this pendulum survived all these years to end up in his hands, and he wasn't going to leave it in this rotting old room.

He put the pendulum in a black pouch, and stuffed the pouch in his pants pockets.

He took a deep breath. It was time to go.

It was a 5 hour drive from the Old City to the small town of Pondshire. On the way Pippin saw more corn fields than he has ever seen in his life. He was itching to go out there and run through the fields, singing with the birds. He wanted to write songs about them and the weird longing feeling he felt in his chest as he watched them.

And so he pulled a scrap piece of paper from his pocket (of which he had many, as you never know when inspiration for lyrics will hit) and scribbled as neatly as he could despite the bumpy road,

"Down behind the forests of old,  
Through the fields of corn and wheat,  
A quiet soothing voice called,  
Singing songs so sweet.

"Come home, come home,  
Between the hills you belong!  
Come reclaim your long lost throne,  
And sing your happiest song!"

They passed through cities and towns and villages, but nothing compared to the feeling of when he saw the hills and ponds of Pondshire. The grass rolled with the wind, and the frogs croaked loudly. Squirrels ran up and down trees, and birds sang songs proudly. But what surprised Pippin most that the town felt like it belonged with the hills. The houses were mostly built of stone, though it wasn't very visible as flora of all sorts covered their walls, giving vibrant colors to the neighborhood. Though some houses had well-kept gardens, others just let the fields come up to their front doors. In fact, some of the houses were built into the hills, Pippin noticed in awe.

As they approached the Pondshire College buildings, Pippin noticed a lot of people his age walking along the dirt roads. He wondered if any of them might be his roommate, or maybe, if he was lucky, a new friend.

But as much as Pippin liked making new friends, he had realized that he could never really keep them for long, and that fact gnawed at him any time he wanted to speak with someone new. His heart longed for that human interaction, but his mind told him they wouldn't understand him. Not the way the birds do.

And so Pippin kept to himself, all throughout the freshman orientation, all the way until he came up to his new dorm room. Behind that door was someone he would have to live with for the whole term, which means he has to make the best first impression on them he possibly could.

He reached into his pocket, feeling past the scrap pieces of paper for the little pouch. He held it tight in his hand and thought, "I hope I like my new roommate," but after a moment of consideration he changed it to "I hope my new roommate likes me."  
And with that he opened the door.

Pippin's new roommate, who was sitting at his desk, scribbling musical notes on some staff paper, was a few years older than him, but quite similar to him in appearance. They both had curly light hair and a height one might consider small for a full grown man. Their faces long, their eyes big and bright, both boys had smiles on their faces when they met.

"A pleasure to meet you, my name is Merry," his new roommate held out his hand and Pippin awkwardly shook it. Who still shakes hands in this day and age?

"I'm Pippin," he replied, as per usual avoiding his given name. He glanced at what Merry was writing. "You write music?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm studying. You?"

"I'm just here to study engineering."

"I mean, do you write any music?"

"Uhh.." Pippin stuck his hands in his pockets, where all of his crumpled up lyrics were stored. "Nothing worth noting."

The fact is that he noted quite many songs, but as his parents have said to him, they are not worth sharing with others. He planned to keep these songs between him and the birds for the rest of his life.

"...anyway, do you want some bread?" Merry's voice brought him back to reality, which Pippin never realized he had left. His roommate was holding a whole loaf of bread, which he had taken out of the bread box positioned on his bedside table. It was the biggest bread box Pippin had seen, and on top of that it was absolutely full of bread and pastries. The boy's stomach growled. He sure did want some bread.

"Look at you, you're starving!" Merry placed the loaf of bread in Pippin's arms, and before Pippin could object, he went to the mini fridge that stood by his bed and pulled out a box of pre-prepared chicken and potatoes, stuffing them in the microwave. 

Pippin looked at the bread in his hands, not quite processing what is going on.

"Come on, eat up, before you pass out!" Merry encouraged him. "Bread isn't a full meal, but it's a start!"

Pippin nodded and started pulling off a small piece of the bread, barely more than a crumb, and placed it on his tongue. The flavor spread to his taste buds, lighting up his face with glee. Before he knew it, he scarfed down half of the loaf.

Merry gave him a big smile. "Good, innit?"

The microwave beeped, and Merry placed the food on the desk across from his own, which for the term would belong to Pippin. "It's homemade!"

"It's delicious!" Pippin exclaimed, but he quickly found himself distracted from the bread and drooling over the food on his desk.

"Fancy some salad?" Merry pulled out a box of leafy and non-leafy greens.

"Yes, please!"

Merry passed him the salad, and Pippin happily sat down to what was probably the biggest meal he's had in his whole life.

You'd think his stomach wouldn't be able to handle such a big meal all of a sudden, but Pippin practically inhaled it. A loud burp left his throat and Merry laughed.

"Do you want more?"

"No!" Pippin was wide-eyed at the offer. "I couldn't…"

"Yeah you could, we got plenty!"

"I could not possibly eat more, my stomach would burst!"

The two boys chuckled.

Pippin had gotten comfortable enough to really observe his surroundings. Merry's side of the room had been decorated with plants and fairy lights, posters and photographs, books and figurines. Pippin's side of the room seemed much emptier in comparison. Outside of the essentials of bedsheets, clothes, toiletries, and textbooks, he didn't have much to bring with him.

Merry had also told him about himself - he was 21 years old, but was just starting out college. His family lives in town, just down the street, in fact, but he wanted to try living without them. "An adventure," he called it as he explained, "Home is home, but there are many paths to tread."

Pippin had thought long and hard that night about what home was. He's lived in the same old house his whole life and yet… it didn't quite feel like home, and Pippin wondered if he would ever find a place that really did.

And so when he finally fell asleep, he had a dream. He saw houses built into hills, with round doors and door knobs in their centers. He smelled potatoes, in a thick stew, a smell that felt sort of homely to him. He wanted to come back home to that house, but interrupting that thought came a song,

"Home is behind, the world ahead."

And Pippin was quite sure the voice that sang it was his own, yet distant from himself. Perhaps it was somewhere far from this house, seeing a new side of the world.

Pippin turned away from the house and saw mountains. His home was indeed behind and a whole world lay right before his eyes. A whole adventure, perhaps.


End file.
